NPP's confidence in V/R is a mirage- NDC

Ho, Sept. 26, GNA- The National Democratic Congress (NDC), says the emerging confidence of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win many of the 22 seats in the Volta Region in the 2008 elections is a huge mirage, Mr Francis Ganyaglo, Party Regional Secretary said this in Ho on Wednesday.

"Every big party has its stronghold and Volta Region is NDC's, which we would maintain at all cost," he declared in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

The NPP won only one of the 22 seats in the region in the 2004 elections.

He said every analyst basing his view on election results data in the past elections since 1996 would give credence to NDC's position to maintain its stronghold while dismissing NPP's brimming hopes as mere gimmicks.

Mr Ganyaglo said that not even the appearance on the political scene of ex-NDC Chairman, Dr Obed Asamoah's Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) would affect the fortunes of the Party in the region in any significant way.

He said though Dr Asamoah, an ardent politician with a lot of influence hails from the region, his clout had been blemished by the manner he left the NDC so much that "our discerning supporters would remain distant from him".

Asked if the NDC was unaffected by the names of candidates picked in the recent NPP primaries in the region, Mr Ganyaglo said "that also did no matter to us" since we beat them when the likes of Miss Elizabeth Ohene, Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa and Mr Kofi Dzamesi, all Ministers of state then, vied in the region.

"Now the NPP could attract only one Minister of state, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, listed to contest the Ketu-North constituency, whom we beat twice and would defeat the third time," Mr Ganyaglo stated.

He said the NDC using a strategy based on the 2004 post election results would take back the Nkwanta-North seat, the lone seat the NPP is holding in the region.

Mr Ganyaglo said the NDC would scheme to make the emerging platform issues of corruption, job creation and comportment of party activists to reflect regional perspectives.

He said not much had been done by the NPP in terms of infrastructure in the region, as roads remained same while those done were rapidly deteriorating.